Diabetes or diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder of glucose (sugar) metabolism caused by the body's inability to adequately produce or utilize insulin, a hormone produced and released from the pancreas, when blood sugar levels increase as a result of ingesting digestible carbohydrates. The diabetic condition is characterized by elevated blood sugar levels (normal blood sugar levels are between 70 and 100 mg/dL). There are two types of diabetic conditions: juvenile-onset diabetes (Type I) and the mature-onset diabetes (Type II). In Type I diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. The administration of insulin is necessary to lower blood glucose to normal levels. In Type II diabetes, either the body doesn't produce enough insulin or cells lose their ability to efficiently use insulin (insulin resistance) to facilitate the transport of glucose into cells. High levels of insulin from self administration or from over production by the body can cause obesity as well as the deterioration of general health. Excessive consumption of digestible carbohydrates over an extended period of time can lead to Type II diabetic conditions, while reducing digestible carbohydrate intake can often control Type II diabetic conditions without administering medications.
There are over 16 million Americans afflicted by diabetes. The American Diabetes Association predicts that a million more persons will be diagnosed with diabetes every year. Type II diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of the cases. Type II diabetes has been known as mature-onset diabetes, and has been associated primarily with persons over 40. However, there has been a dramatic rise in Type II diabetes among people in their 30s, where the incidence of Type II diabetes has increased by 70 percent in the past decade. Children are now being diagnosed with Type II diabetes. This was unheard of a few years ago.
The high blood glucose levels and high blood insulin levels associated with excessive consumption of digestible carbohydrates can also lead to general health concerns. Eating three high carbohydrate meals a day plus snacks and beverages rich in carbohydrates can elevate glucose and insulin levels for upwards of 16 hours per day. High levels of insulin can lead to excessive deposits of adipose fat, resulting in obesity. Obesity is a cause of many health problems including cardiac disease. High blood insulin levels can lead to blindness, poor circulation, high blood pressure, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, and deterioration particularly of the peripheral nerves of the feet and legs. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure. It quadruples the risk of heart disease and is responsible for over 90,000 amputations per year in the U.S. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in America.
A primary approach for reducing blood glucose levels is the strict adherence to a diet that minimizes postpriandal glucose response. However, compliance to a diet that results in normal blood glucose levels is difficult since the majority of foods consumed daily in a typical diet have a high level of digestible carbohydrates. Consequently, food products and dietary management systems are needed to help control and maintain blood glucose levels to as close to normal as possible, in order to reduce the incidence and complications of diabetes. More specifically, there is a need for low-carbohydrate versions of popular, highly consumed food products.
Bread products are abundantly consumed food products that have traditionally contained a high level of digestible carbohydrates. Digestible carbohydrates typically found in breads include starches, simple sugars, and complex sugars. Digestible starches and complex sugars are broken down by enzymatic hydrolysis into individual sugar molecules, which pass through the wall of the gastrointestinal tract and into the blood and lymph. This process is called absorption and takes place primarily in the small intestine.
In a conventional process to make a conventional yeast-leavened dough and resulting bread product, the proper proportions of wheat flour, water and yeast are combined, mixed, and kneaded to create a dough mass. The flour is the source of the proteins and carbohydrates found in a conventional bread. Standard bread flour used to make conventional bread is produced from hard wheat having a high gluten content (12 to 14 percent gluten protein). In the early stages of mixing dough, the two main gluten proteins found in wheat flour (gliadin and glutenin) hydrate and bind together to form gluten strands. As mixing continues, the gluten strands align and form inter-molecular bonds, resulting in a strong, elastic protein structure and a viscous, extensible and cohesive dough. This series of changes in protein structure is referred to as gluten development. The particulate flour, including starches, and fiber materials become entangled and enmeshed into the continuous protein film. The kneaded dough is then formed into the shape of a loaf, and allowed to proof. During proofing, yeast cells replicate and grow. The yeast cells ferment sugars contained in the dough mass to produce carbon dioxide gas, ethyl alcohol and water. The release of carbon dioxide gas within the dough mass is also referred to as leavening. The viscoelastic and film forming properties of the protein structure enable the dough to trap gas bubbles during leavening to form small cells throughout the dough mass. These gas bubbles cause the dough to rise, or to leaven, during proofing. The proofed dough is then baked to form the loaf of bread having the characteristic cellular structure.
A typical wheat flour used to make conventional bread contains about 12 percent protein, 70 percent digestible carbohydrate, 2.5 percent dietary fiber, and about 1.5 percent fat. Since high levels of wheat flour are used in conventional bread products, 12 to 16 grams of digestible carbohydrates are typically found in a 1 ounce (28.35 gm) slice of conventional bread. Other native grains having varying amounts of protein and carbohydrate have produced grain flours. The other grain flours have been used to make bread formulations that have resulted in a variety of bread products with dough and bread properties that vary in part based on the amount of gluten protein in the dough composition. When non-wheat bread flours having reduced or negligible gluten levels are used, it has been known to add an amount of wheat gluten protein to the dough composition, above the amount provided by the bread flours, to increase the gluten content reduced by the dilution of wheat flour. The addition of minor amounts of vital wheat gluten, or gluten flour, to conventional bread flours can improve the making of the dough, and vary the properties of the resulting bread. Vital wheat gluten, a wheat protein material derived from wheat flour and containing about 75-85% protein, has been added to conventional dough formulations at only low levels (from about 3-5% by weight of the bread flour) while maintaining a workable dough and acceptable bread. The addition of higher levels of vital gluten with bread flour results in changes in the dough characterized by the development of an increasingly tough, rubbery dough that is difficult to extend and stretch, and in a resulting bread product having an increasingly gluten-like characteristic, such as an open irregular crumb and a rubbery texture of both crust and crumb. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,902, issued to Rudel on Oct. 17, 1995, teaches the addition of vital wheat gluten (about 80% gluten content) to bread flour (about 10-13% protein content), at levels of up to about 25% by weight of the bread flour, to produce a flour blend having a wheat protein content of about 17-30%, and using low heat non-fat dry milk solids, at a level of about 9% to 100% by weight of the flour blend, to improve the mixing, make-up and proofing of the dough, and the appearance and taste of the resulting bread product.
While others have produced dough and bread having reduced levels of carbohydrates, or higher levels of proteins, for dietary and nutritional purposes, there remains a need to develop dough and bread formulations that have a high level of protein and a low level of carbohydrate, particularly digestible carbohydrate, having improved structure, texture, and organoleptic properties that are comparable to conventional bread products.